"The more I know about people - the better I like my dog." - Mark Twain

"A wise man once told me, ‘Don’t argue with fools. Cause people from a distance can’t tell who is who'." Jay Z, Takeover

"When I was looking for a captain, I wanted a guy with the Red Wings crest tattooed on his chest," said former Detroit coach Jacques Demers, who named Yzerman captain in 1986. "Steve Yzerman was that guy."

“Told him if he wasn't ultra-competitive he couldn't come here. If he didn't bring it every day he couldn't come here, because he was going to hate it if he didn't, dislike the coach and dislike playing here.

“It's real straightforward. If you don't do it right, you're not happy here." Babcock

While I agree with you, he is also the steadiest most dependable D-man the team has.

So I don't really think of him as an X factor.

But if he sucks ass this year, or gets injured, this team will suck.

To me Kronner is more important than Dats or Z is, mainly because if Dats has a bad year, Z can step up or vice versa, but Kronner really has to be the anchor.

"The more I know about people - the better I like my dog." - Mark Twain

"A wise man once told me, ‘Don’t argue with fools. Cause people from a distance can’t tell who is who'." Jay Z, Takeover

"When I was looking for a captain, I wanted a guy with the Red Wings crest tattooed on his chest," said former Detroit coach Jacques Demers, who named Yzerman captain in 1986. "Steve Yzerman was that guy."

“Told him if he wasn't ultra-competitive he couldn't come here. If he didn't bring it every day he couldn't come here, because he was going to hate it if he didn't, dislike the coach and dislike playing here.

“It's real straightforward. If you don't do it right, you're not happy here." Babcock

I'm going with Smith. The Smith we saw this past season was nowhere near what Smith can bring to the fold, even at this early stage.

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!" - Kierkegaard

Im taking Kindl. Was starting to break out offensively towards the end of last season. If he can run the 2nd PP, that could be the key to our power play woes. Being able to apply pressure for the entire 2 minutes is the key to me for PP success.

He didn't play in the Hawks series at all. I do agree, though. He did leave a noticeable hole.

I went with Ericsson. If he can have a Norris worthy year, then the D will be perfectly fine.

My bad!

"The more I know about people - the better I like my dog." - Mark Twain

"A wise man once told me, ‘Don’t argue with fools. Cause people from a distance can’t tell who is who'." Jay Z, Takeover

"When I was looking for a captain, I wanted a guy with the Red Wings crest tattooed on his chest," said former Detroit coach Jacques Demers, who named Yzerman captain in 1986. "Steve Yzerman was that guy."

“Told him if he wasn't ultra-competitive he couldn't come here. If he didn't bring it every day he couldn't come here, because he was going to hate it if he didn't, dislike the coach and dislike playing here.

“It's real straightforward. If you don't do it right, you're not happy here." Babcock

but to me it has to be smith or dekeyser. we need one of them to permanently earn a top 4 spot to solidify the 2nd pairing. the first pairing was good last year. and since both ericsson an kronwall are veterans, there is no reason to think their play will slip significantly. so both just need to play this season like they did last year and our top pairing is solid. additionally, for whoever ends up in the 3rd pairing, they just need to play to that role. much less is expceted. but whoever ends up on the 2nd pairing will need to grow a lot.

because right now we hav 4 guys that all have question marks. quincey has played a lot of top 4 minutes in the nhl, but has just struggled so much since coming back. i am a quincey backer, and he did play well down the stretch last year, but i still worry if he is relied on as the 3rd defenseman. kindl had a great year last year and really showed his offensive side off. but i still worry that defensively he might be best suited for a 3rd pairing role long term. i hope i'm wrong as i really like kindl, but he would have to have another breakout year to legitimately become a 2nd pairing guy. and then smith and dekeyser i lump together. both have tons of upside. smith has yet to really look solid in the nhl, while dekeyser looked great but only for a very small sample size. so while either of them could grow into a legitimate 2nd pairing player (even as fast as this year) it is also possible they both struggle and are on the 3rd pairing or in the case of dekeyser, down in the ahl.

so thats why one of them would have to take it. as they have the biggest ability to make this years D corps a success or failure. personally i voted for smith. because we have seen such a variety in his play. so that makes him the x factor because he out of anyone has the most wide open season for expectations.

Im taking Kindl. Was starting to break out offensively towards the end of last season. If he can run the 2nd PP, that could be the key to our power play woes. Being able to apply pressure for the entire 2 minutes is the key to me for PP success.

this is the reason I am going with kindl as well. While I agree that our dmen as a whole are a huge x factor, if kindl keeps improving at the rate he is and carries the pp2, that'd be clutch (esspecially since we had such trouble scoring last season).

Datsyukian

Dat·syu·ki·an [dat-soo-kee-uh n]

adjective

1. When your moves are so amazing and beyond reason, the only way to describe them is "datsyukian."

Without a doubt Dekeyser is our biggest defensive x-factor. The kid has so much potential, and if he lives up to the expectations he could easily be a game changer for a team that is somewhat lacking on the blue line. I'm still hoping we can snag a top 4 d-man before the trade deadline. But for now Dekeyser could quite possibly move into a #2 spot at some point this season (if not right away).

Smith. He has to play with confidence and show his undoubted talent. If he continues to treat the puck like a hand grenade, and panic every time he is forechecked, his NHL career will be short. Both the ducks and the Hawks realised this and pressured him relentlessly, and the teams in the East will continue to do the same until he learns to calm down.

"If I can be totally honest, it's not a lot of guys you get impressed by. Actually, it's no one else but him. From the bench, to see what move he makes -- you're like, 'I wish I could do that.' Sometimes you sit on the bench and just think, 'wow,' and you look over to the other bench and they sit there and shake their heads, too. He has great, great skills. I'm probably not going to play with another player who has the kind of skills he has." Mikael Samuelsson on Pavel Datsyuk

Kindl. Will run the 2nd PP and likely play with DeKeyser so he needs to keep heading in the right direction and help DD out on the blue line if the going gets rough. He's earned what he's now got on his plate with an awesome job last year. Time to see if he's legit.

Smith. He has the biggest gap between proven ability and potential ability. If he steps it up, it will completely change the dynamic of our defense.

"The leader must never close the gap between himself and the group. If he does, he is no longer what he must be. He must walk a tightrope between the consent he must win and the control he must exert."Vince Lombardi

When asked who won, Babcock said, “Well it doesn’t really matter as long as you don’t lose. It’s like going bear hunting, you take a slow guy with you in case the bear is hungry.”

It's Smith for me, but DK is a close 2nd. I actually feel like Kronwall, Ericsson and to a lesser extent Quincey (defensively) and Kindl (offensively) are going to play as expected - Smith and DK are the guys who are going to dictate how much better the team is offensively and/or defensively on the back end. I really hope Smith meets expectations when Babcock "frees" him to play his offensive game.